


Hey, Bunny

by heroictype (swanreaper)



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pet Names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 05:11:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7030306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swanreaper/pseuds/heroictype
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which a pet name comes to be, despite questionable scientific accuracy, and a certain radio host loves his neurodivergent scientist boyfriend very much. Like, a lot, okay?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hey, Bunny

**Author's Note:**

> so uh the only thing I kind of want to clarify from the summary is that Cecil is also neurodivergent. They both are and that's important to me, it's just that this is kind of about a specific trait of Carlos'.
> 
> Anyway, I'm catching up from tumblr again. Have some sugary fluff on which to rot your teeth.

On some days, it was just easier to take one car. This was how it worked: whoever owned the car dropped off the other person, and picked him up. On that day, the car had been Cecil’s. So that night, Cecil swung by the lab to pick up Carlos.

The scientist was still doing science. He waited in front of a monitor on which a series of symbols blinked in rotation, presumably so that he could derive some scientific meaning from these symbols. He was grinning, and this showed off both his neat teeth and his radiating joy. Cecil thought to himself, _I love him. He’s so smart._

It was a very simple thought, and one that Cecil had often. He voiced it as often as he thought it, but he didn’t say anything now. He would let Carlos notice him when the scientist reached a good stopping point. 

As Carlos waited, he rocked on his heels, and when the sheer delight of scientific progress became too much to contain to the earth, he hopped up and down a few times. He didn’t stop until the machine beeped, and paper came spilling out of a slot at the front. He ripped it off and read it, and when he turned around to compare his results with some material on the table, he saw Cecil. 

“Cecil! Hi, Cecil, look at this! Okay, so we were checking on the levels of stardust in starfruit, checking to see if there was any relationship between the flavor and actual celestial origin - because, of course, starfruit comes from stars or the name wouldn’t be scientifically accurate at all - and then we found a whole new mutation! We’re thinking of calling it constellationfruit, because it’s like a lot of starfruit that have grown into one lump of fruit! The implications for the future of fruit salad are enormous!”

“That’s wonderful! _Ooh_ , and you’re wonderful! And you’re just like a bunny when you get excited! And also, all the time… All that beautiful… floof…” Cecil trailed off with an admiring sigh, and silently scolded himself. A bunny? _Really?_ That wasn’t cool at all. Oh, well. He teased the end of Carlos’ ponytail for a distraction, and also just because his hair was very soft, and the scientist smiled sheepishly.

“Aww. I’m like a…” If the lack of _coolness_ bothered Carlos, or even registered, Carlos didn’t show it. But he considered the comparison, twisting the end of his own hair in his fingertips. 

“But Cecil, bunnies have ears like -” He lifted his hands above his head to demonstrate, and flapped them back and forward once. “Like that. Very long. So I don’t know if that’s a scientifically accurate pet name.”

“Yes, but bunnies also hop. Or is that not scientifically accurate, but rather how bunnies are commonly represented in media, like how mice enjoy cheese and lizards are quadrupedal and not in charge of the government?”

Carlos lifted Cecil’s arm and swung it back and forth with his own a few times, as he mused on the subject.

“No, no… Hmmm. I suppose you’re right; all of these traits are an important part of how we classify… if not what organisms _are_ bunnies versus those that _aren’t,_ then how we as humans determine what we think of as bunnies. Frequent hopping is a part of how we perceive bunnies." 

Then, he spun to wind the radio host’s arm over his stomach and press his back against Cecil’s chest. At least, that had been the planned sequence. One of his heels landed quite neatly over Cecil’s toes, both throwing Carlos off balance and making Cecil inhale sharply as all of his boyfriend’s weight concentrated itself on one small area.

Carlos stumbled and jerked to the side. "Oh! Sorry, honey! I guess I need to work on my landings! Gravity, you know?”

He hoped, perhaps, that a scientific explanation for the blow might soften it, along with the apology.

But this, Cecil didn't seem to mind much. He said, “Aww, it’s alright… come here?”

This time, Carlos just stepped back. Cecil wrapped his arms around the scientist’s middle to steady him where he’d initially aimed to be.

“Hey, there, bunny... You can hop all you like, just yes, maybe try to land safely. For your sake, too,” Cecil said into Carlos’ ear. He paused, then laughed nervously, “I mean, I think it sounds cute, but if you don't like it…”

“Well, no, that’s what I wanted to say, anyway. I’ll be your bunny, Ceec. Just for you.” Carlos reached up to poke the tip of Cecil’s nose. “The hopping… and the floof… are both sufficient for pet-name usage. But I am, of course, a scientist.”

He added this not because Cecil didn’t know; he trusted that Cecil understood it perfectly. He just liked to say that, because it was one of his favorite facts.

“Of course. You are my bunny. That doesn't make you any less my scientist, or less beautiful, or anything other than the love of my life.”


End file.
